Palestinian economy stagnating: WB| Dec 2: The Palestinian economy is unlikely to shake off its present stagnation without an easing of movements of goods and people to and from the territory, as well as a concerted commitment to security refor...Taking Stock / Sheves got off easyAharon Barak took a small step on Tuesday toward halting the deterioration in Israel's standards of government. | Our standards have been crumbling for years. Public officials are acquitted of disgusting corrup...The Budget VoteIt is obvious to all that Sharon pushed Shinui till he knew they could quit in order to make rooms for Labor MKs to be appointed to ministry offices. It is disgusting that he gave into the Haredi parties that d...Sharon is shaken by loss on budget votePrime Minister Ariel Sharon lost an important budget vote Wednesday in Parliament that imperils his government but does not quite collapse it.. Sharon's largest coalition party, the secular Shinui, voted agains...Taking Stock / Look who's talkingLook at our new champion of social rights. | Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced on Sunday that he would be the keynote speaker at a conference being organized by the Likud faction of the Histadrut labor fed...Budget row endangers Sharon's coalition| Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's shaky coalition faces collapse in a row over the 2005 Budget, raising the prospect of early elections that would endanger his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. | His ...Economics put PLO Chairman Abbas in Arafat's shoesGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - (KRT) - Yasser Arafat's death may have encouraged a measure of moderation in this Palestinian militant stronghold, where Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestine Liberation Organization chairman...Sharon says committed to firing Shinui over budget votePrime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared determined Monday night to fire the Shinui ministers if they vote against the 2005 budget as they have threatened when it comes before the Knesset for its first reading on W...Arafat Had `Authority' at Company That Banked With CitigroupNov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Yasser Arafat, the Nobel Peace Prize winner reviled by his enemies as a terrorist, controlled a company that Palestinian Authority documents show held a $6.8 million account at Citigroup ...Haven't Americans taken the world by surprise?| Of course they have, because it wasn't supposed to happen. But four years after their 2000 debacle, US media at the wee hours had goofed one more time in predicting the dicey outcome of a nail-biting presiden...